Previously buried under decades of neglect, Tere and Mac Thomas's circa-1825 Mississippi home has new stories to tell, thanks to diligent research—and a stunning three-year gut renovation.

Before: The House

Before: The House

When high school sweethearts Maria Teresa "Tere" and William "Mac" Thomas, married for 39 years, began searching for a getaway near their hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana, Mac, an oil executive, had a hunting camp in mind. After a broker showed him the 680-acre property with rolling, wooded hills and a three-acre lake, he loved everything ... except the broken-down shell of a house that came with the parcel. "It was nothing that a match couldn't cure," jokes Mac. And so began what Tere calls Mac's "gift of love," a three-year gut renovation.

"If we were going to do it, we wanted to do it right," says Mac. That meant hiring a crew and crane to lift the 2,770-square-foot house onto supports, where it sat for more than a year during repairs to its foundation and the installation of new insulation, plumbing, and electricity.

After: The House

After: The House

The Thomases knew that their 1820s home was about to be brought back to life. The couple already had big plans to transform Laurietta, as the Fayette, Mississippi, plantation is known, from a dilapidated buzzard's nest into a roost where their extended family—four grown children, plus their spouses and eight kids—could come together for weekends and holidays.

In this photo: The couple rebuilt both chimneys and added a hand-crimped aluminum roof.